The Sunday Mail
You may be disappointed if you try and fail, but you are doomed if you do not try.
It is easy to give up after the first try or attempt. Failing does not invalidate your dream and render your vision null and impossible.
Refuse to die hiding from challenge and content with trying nothing and preserved from action.
Never be disappointed by the first stony bite at your goals. Keep trying until you succeed and break through. This attitude that things should just work at first attempt is contrary to how life really works.
If at first you do not succeed, do not wear the failure as an armband and advertise your miseries to everyone.
Just stick to the knitting and keep trying. Try like a mad man who will not listen to anything that suggests that success is impossible.
Edit your mental dictionary and delete the word “impossible.” Try and fail but never fail to try and keep pushing until you break through.
There is a tomorrow
Some days are tough and challenging. Some seasons are rough and tough. You come to the end of the day and you are so exhausted and discouraged. Sometimes it feels like you are banging your head against a stone wall.
I have had many such days.
Being disappointed is being appointed for success if you keep trying. There are days when I am tempted to quit and run. What would that accomplish? Never quit simply because things are tough nor because the terrain is rough and the ride is bumpy.
Easy street is closed for good.
The short-cut to success is through dogged trying and refusing to give up.
When you come to the end of the terrible and tough day, remember there is a tomorrow and another daybreak waiting for those who will dare get up and face the day.
You do not need to rant and throw tantrums.
All you need is to have the quiet confidence that you can wake up to try again. How badly do you want it.
Expressing mere wishes is not a decision but a weak prayer. If you want something badly enough, make a decision. Cut off all hesitation and make a bold and determined attempt. If you want to paint, why keep talking about it without painting?
Paint. Get a brush, get some paper, canvas or wall and do it. If you want to sing, stop making noisy calculations and sing. If you want to travel, get started and get moving. If you want to develop some skill, stop regretting that you never got the opportunity and you were born at the wrong time.
Enrol, get a coach, take the class, make a fire.
Get moving. Refuse to be a victim of fear and do the things that you fear.
Never allow the fear of failure to stop you from going for the things you want. You really do not want it badly enough so long as you are not willing to take action. It is better to fail while marching in the direction of your desire than to just sit still in false hope. Things do not do themselves, they get done by someone.
The Try Angle
There are many ways to look at a situation. One perspective is to see all the things that can go wrong. Indeed, many things can and do go wrong.
There are no accolades for cowardice and succumbing to fear. There is no glory in inaction and inertia. The other angle is the impossibility angle. This is where you start seeing all the things that make the venture and proposition impossible.
It does not take any genius to doubt yourself. The best angle to view your situation is the “Try Angle”.
This is where you take the shot and you dare to try. The impossible is the untried. Unless you try you may never know how far you can go. The try angle is the best angle with which to launch your grand idea and to challenge your situation. You will not have finished trying before your breakthrough comes.
Try, try and try and then keep trying until the sun breaks forth and the deed is done. Those who truly fail are those who do not dare to try.
Managing Emotions
If something that you are attempting does not work, you will be disappointed. That is natural. However, you will be a disappointment if you stop trying because you got disappointed.
Never let the thought of hurt, wounded pride and a tarnished image stop you from trying and doing what you know you must do. Do not hide your failure, just try again. If you do not make any mistakes you are not trying hard enough.
Unless you attempt something that is beyond what you have already mastered you will never grow, stretch and advance. Stop swimming in the shallow end of life. Refuse to be content with yesterday’s glory and the stinking accolades of the past.
If you have never doubted yourself you probably have never been stretched and attempted a big and exciting goal. Your self-doubt is your traitor. It will stop you from gaining all the good that could come from attempting something that is big and exciting.
You are not judged by the number of times you do things perfectly and never miss a beat. That is for robots. You are judged by the number of times you dare to stand up and attempt what looks impossible.
It is when you are hardest hit that you must get up and give another try. Keep trying, though discouraged never lose your enthusiasm or drive. Try chewing at your goal until you have no teeth.
Too many wimps want the easy painless road, where they achieve without effort and win without fighting. You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you do not try.
Commit yourself
Whenever you have a full English breakfast always remember that on your plate sits the metaphor of the difference between commitment and mere involvement.
When you look at that egg, you know that the chicken was involved in order for you to have breakfast. It laid the egg and went on to play. When you look at the slice of bacon, you know that the pig committed its life in order for you to have the bacon for breakfast.
Without commitment nothing worthwhile happens. Testing to see if things work is not commitment but gambling. Gaming is not the royal road to greatness.
You lose more by not taking committed action than by failing while taking action. Most of the accomplishments in this world came from people that kept trying long after their peers who were not committed had quit.
Never go backwards or give up from trying. Be so determined that you are willing to risk failure in order to succeed.
Too many people want a reputation of success upon success, from mountain to mountain. This does not happen, except in dream land where there are no valleys.
Be comfortable with the pain of short-term failure but commit to winning in the long term. A delay is not a denial. A valley does not mean the journey is over. Do not die in your winter and wither in your valleys.
Commit yourself to a goal, a dream or a vision. Nobody who tries to do something great but fails is a total failure. Failure is nothing except feedback. You cannot get any feedback without doing anything.
Whenever you attempt anything you are already a winner. This is because you would have conquered the primary battle in life — the fear of trying. Many people would rather talk, threaten, pray and think except get into the water and try.
Whoever tries something big should always be applauded. Never smart too long when you fail and think that the failure dented your ego. Get up and attempt something greater and bigger than the past. Refuse to live a life without dreams, juice or challenge.
Commit to great action and do the deeds that matter.
The Get Up Challenge
If you try and do not succeed you are infinitely better that the majority that tries nothing and fears failure. Never let pride reduce you into playing in shadows of life.
The challenge in life is to get up and try and try and then try again. You are not obligated to win, but you are obligated to try and stick to the task until the logical conclusion is reached.
Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try. Every try is a risk. However, the risk of trying is far less than the risk of doing nothing and sitting in dejection.
Get up and try and keep trying until you succeed.
What could you do if you knew you could not fail? What would you attempt if you could do anything you dare? Do not worry about being better than anyone else. Worry about sitting still and not stretching your potential and dreaming bigger.
Try and better yourself and improve on your yesterday. Trying is all that life is all about.
Daybreak is coming.
Milton Kamwendo is a cutting-edge international transformational and inspirational speaker, author and coach. He is a strategy and innovation consultant and leadership coach. He can be reached at [email protected] and Twitter handle @MiltonKamwendo
